Mobile browser use in Zimbabwe: Opera mini increases, Nokia & others decline

L.S.M Kabweza Avatar

The use of Opera’s mobile browsers, specifically that of Opera Mini we’re presuming, registered significant increase in Zimbabwe over the past 2 months. Especially in October when usage increased by almost 10%. This is according to the latest StatCounter data available on the analytics company’s website. Opera dominates the mobile browser usage with currently over 90% of all browsing locally done on Opera.
mobile-browsers-zim-statcou

Usage of other browsers however is on the decline according to StatCounter. The Nokia browser as you can see above for example, fell more 5% points and now only has 4.6% of the local browsing. The UC Browser, the default on many devices from China, is also on the decline. So is Google’s Android default browser.

Opera Mini’s dominance is largely through the company’s co-branding deals with local mobile operators Econet and Telecel. The two mobile operators have both been marketing Opera mini as a cheaper way for subscribers to browse. Recently, Telecel announced that the usage of the browser on its network had increased 6 fold since launch in 2012.

These stats are especially important for publishers and developers looking to deliver content to mobile users. The Opera Mini browser market share also relates to the general ownership  and usage of smartphones in the country. It’s generally still a feature phone market and Opera Mini is about the best browser for that segment and its needs.

It’s important to note that the StatCounter stats for the country were last reported to have a sample size of about 2.4 million page views, so this data is based on that. More about their methodology here.

One response

  1. anthonysomerset

    people should note that opera’s turbo mode can actually be worse than using standard browsing in some cases as the data has to go to europe and back which can be problematic when international links are congested or down

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